No More Games

Chapter Thirteen

"Hey, Tara!"

She cringed at the sound of her name being called by that familiar voice. Or was it a shiver? She couldn't really tell and after the kiss they'd shared in the locker room, she was even more confused.

Taking in a deep breath, she put on as real of a smile as she could before turning to face him. "You're back." Surprisingly, she felt the corners of her lips turn up even more until her mouth formed a real smile.

A voice inside of her groaned.

After the "locker room incident"—as she chose to call it—she'd had a good long talk with herself. She wanted to make sure that this was not going to end up like the last time. She'd promised herself that one flash of that amazing, dimpled grin would not turn her insides to mush, make her swoon, quiver, babble; any of the things Bobby Manning usually did to her.

She swore to herself that she would not get hurt again. She would build up an emotional barrier to keep his suave and charm as far away from her emotions as possible. She made herself promise that she would not allow herself to go through the same torment she'd been through for the last few weeks.

She couldn't go through that again.

She wasn't going to.

She'd put her foot down.

No more heartbreak for her.

No siree!

She was going to stick to her plan too.

At least that's what she'd hoped would happen until she caught sight of him. His hair was ruffled from his SWAT helmet and he looked like he'd changed in a hurry.

Their gazes instantly collided and every one of those promises suddenly flew out the window.

Crap.

"Yeah, we just got back a few minutes ago, but I wanted to talk to you without anyone else around." One side of his mouth quirked up in a smirk and her heart started beating a fevered staccato.

She blinked up owlishly as she studied the way his facial features shifted when he smiled. There were times when Bobby could look so frightening and others when he looked just like he must have when he was a little boy.

She stifled the growl that wanted to escape. Darn him and his handsomeness and his perfectness and his… Aussieness!

She was never going to win the fight against him and to top it all off, he wanted to talk. That could only mean one thing and she knew she wouldn't be able to survive if she had to go through the misery of losing him again. But, still, she agreed to talk to him!

"Um, o-okay." Her reply came out in a choke. Her body immediately started to tremble and no matter what she did, she couldn't make it stop.

Okay, she would talk to him, but there was no way she was going to let herself cry over him again. She was definitely putting her foot down about that.

That inner voice snorted at her in disbelief.

Why did she have the feeling that tonight was going to be the perfect night to try that new microwavable molten lava cake she'd picked up while grocery shopping the other day?

The building was most deserted, except for a few teams working 24/7s, but Bobby couldn't stop himself from looking around hesitantly before motioning to the room behind her. "Do you mind?"

She didn't acknowledge him because she knew if she did, then there would be no stopping the words that would flow from her mouth; all of them self-incriminating. And the last thing she really wanted to do was embarrass herself any more than was necessary. She only walked into the room and turned on the light.

Tara instantly recognized the room as the one they'd been in only hours before. It had been the same one that Bobby had gone to brood over the letters his sister had given him. The same one that she'd fallen even more in love with him.

Shaking her head at herself, she wrapped her arms around herself in case she felt like she was going to fall apart at the seams.

She was pathetic.

She couldn't believe that she was allowing one man—one out of how many billion—to turn her back into a the simpering little geek she'd been all her life. She'd moved to DC to put that part of her life behind her, but like a bad fungus it always seemed to crop up again.

Bobby closed the door behind him and leaned casually against it. He looked much different than before—better—though he still wasn't completely himself. It seemed easier for him to smile now that his sister was tucked safely away at home, where she belonged. His usual boyish charm had definitely returned. When he smiled, Tara could clearly see his dimples, even if the smile didn't yet reach his eyes.

Her heart gave a flutter.

Those eyes.

The way he was looking at her…

She suddenly felt the need to fidget. She tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ears. She ran her hands down the front of her blouse to erase the obvious wrinkles it had earned from a long workday. She scratched her nose and wished she'd thought enough ahead to at least fix her makeup.

Throughout all that, though, Bobby's gaze never wavered. It continued to bore into her, fanning flames of heat she hadn't even realized had been ignited.

"How's Shannon?" she felt herself blurt out and then rolled her eyes at herself for asking such an inane question.

Bobby's sigh was heavy. It was going to take him a while to get past this and Tara couldn't really blame him. "It's going to take a while, but she'll be okay. I hope."

"Well, with a big brother like you there to help her through it, I have the feeling that she'll be back to her old self in no time." She blushed at her own comment and for some reason couldn't meet him in the eye until she heard him chuckle.

He pushed away from the door and picked up a discarded pen from the table. He began tapping it against the palm of his hand while he took the time to build up the courage to say something. "I was thinking of checking up on her tomorrow."

Tara smiled as she tried to look casual while she perched herself on the edge of the table. Her insides had been going crazy when she was across the room, but now that he was even closer, her heart had begun to dance the rumba with her stomach. "I'm sure she'd like that," she offered as calmly as she could manage.

"Would you go with me?"

She blinked once, twice, and once again before his question finally registered in her brain. "Me?" was all she could bring herself to ask, despite the dozens of questions freshly swimming through her mind.

His eyes sparkled as his smile widened. "Yeah. You," was his simple answer.

"Not that I'm not flattered, but why would you want me to go with you?" She just couldn't wrap her head around the idea. She was obviously missing something.

A tinge of pink appeared at the tips of his ears. "She wants to meet you," he admitted bashfully.

Tara didn't think it was possible, but she was even more confused than she had been a second ago. "Why?"

He shrugged as he rubbed at the base of his neck in embarrassment. He could feel the heat flaming in his cheeks. "I might have mentioned you once or twice in passing," he lied. He didn't realize that he did it, but he apparently talked about Tara ever chance he got and Shannon had basically threatened to beat him over the head with her purse if he mentioned her one more time. Then, she'd asked to meet her.

One of Tara's eyebrows rose in surprise. Heat flooded her face and she couldn't look him directly in the eye. "You talk about me?" she asked.

He shrugged, "Seems like it."

Eyes wide, she gathered up enough courage to finally look at him. "Why?" Of all the intelligent, beautiful women Bobby was surrounded be, he chose to talk about her? Hope suddenly blossomed in her chest. Could this mean that he actually had feelings for her? That he hadn't kissed her in the locker room this afternoon just because he felt lost and confused?

His large shoulders shuddered as he took in a calming breath. There was just something about Tara that seemed to knock him off kilter. And the way she was perched on that table made breathing much too difficult than normal. "Why wouldn't I, Luv?" he asked simply, despite the fevered rhythm his heart was beating against his ribcage.

"But… Well… I …. Huh?" Tara floundered around for the perfect response, yet she couldn't find one.

Bobby chuckled at her confounded expression. He could always rely on Tara to make him smile. He loved that about her—among other things. And suddenly he felt he couldn't keep that fact to himself anymore.

Sobering, he took a seat beside her on the table. "But, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

She blinked up at him, surprised by his sudden change in demeanor. "It's not?"

He shook his head as he looked her square in the eye. "I'm sorry, Tara. I acted like a drongo." He knew he didn't have to elaborate about what he was talking about. He could see in her eyes that she knew exactly what he was doing. "I acted stupidly that night and I wounded our friendship in the process."

Shaking her head, Tara tried to reassure him, "Bobby, we've already talked about this," but he wouldn't hear it.

"I don't regret my actions, Luv," he admitted and that surprised her. Not that he was admitting it, but because he actually didn't regret kissing her. "The only regret I have of that week… is hurting you."

Tara's head hurt. And it was partly because of the long hours behind them, though mostly of the bad memories he was dredging up. Pulling her gaze away from his, she wrapped her arms around herself and crossed her legs at the ankles. It caused just enough space between them and that was what she needed right now. "What do you want me to say?"

He blew out a breath as he looked at her. The pain she'd been put through because of him was evident on her features and he wanted to help to make it go away. He just wasn't sure how. "I don't know. I just know that I don't want to lose you as a friend."

She looked up at him again. "Is that all?" She'd had a different outcome to this scenario running through her mind, and this was far from it. She'd expected her heart to be fluttering like a butterfly's wings, not sinking like a boulder.

He shook his head and reached out to sweep the hair out of her eyes. "No. It's not. But it's a start."

Why all of a sudden did she feel like she wanted to cry? "To what?" she asked incredulously. She'd managed to shield her heart from Bobby Manning for weeks and now he'd just ripped open an old wound that she'd hoped would remain closed forever. What was this a start to? The end!

"I'm hoping it's a start to a new beginning for us, Tara. I've made mistakes, but I plan to make up for them. I want there to be something more between us, but I know I have a great deal to fix before I can completely have your trust again."

Tears pooled at her eyes, but the boulder had shrunk down to a nicely-sized rock. "Bobby, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying… that maybe we could take things slow. Start with a few dinner dates during the week, maybe a night out on the town on the weekends?"

Was he…

Did he…

Did she…

"Dates?" she asked, her hope finally rising.

He shrugged his shoulders, the sparkle in her eyes giving him hope. "Yeah. If you don't mind, I'd like for us to start over. To do things right this time around."

Tara smiled as she was so overcome with joy. "Well, how could a girl turn down an offer like that?"

"Really?" He was shocked. Had she really just said yes?

Her head quickly bobbed up and down. "I'd really like that."

"Whoo-hoo!" he cheered as he jumped up from the table. Without thinking, he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. For a moment, he'd expected her to push him away, saying that kissing was definitely not the way to start off on the right foot. But as his lips worked smoothly against hers, he was greeted by the sweetest of moans. Smiling against her lips, he delved in for more.